The Vicious- Obsessive 4 song 7″- Feral Ward RecordsOccasionally a band puts out a 7″ that make the most skeptical music nerds feel that there are still good bands out there. Sweden’s The Vicious has delivered such a single this year. Raging guitars with minimal distortion along the lines of the Vibrators push every song on the single to the ends of the ’77 sound without going over. The music only slows down one beat for the anthemetic Dead Town. Dead Town evokes humming along before the end of the first listen. The vocals hang over the music in a sort of a howl that reminds us why we love the Buzzcocks. And why we love ’77.

Â Â Â Â I was sitting in a cafe he other day reading a biography of George Washington I had found in a thrift store. I got to a part where Washington was lying under a lice ridden blanket to keep warm when I overheard a guy returning a bagel because his salmon had been mixed in with his cream cheese. It was his contention that the salmon should be separated. He said it tastes better that way.

There is really no point here. I like my salmon separated as well. And i am not particularly rugged. I realize it was just context, but it was funny to me. I wonder if Washington was a pain in the ass at the deli counter as well. The book didn’t say.

My vintage lifestyle is failing me in that everything around me is breaking. I have this tendency to buy old shit, and then I am surprised when it breaks. Still I am more surprised when no one will fix it. I am still even more surprised when I finally find some nut who will fix it and then I gotta take it back two days later. I feel like I spend 86% of my time doing stuff like that. Just because I wanna hear music crappy. Still, I have to think about the â€˜normalâ€™ things that I see from day to day.

Recently, I joined a gym in hopes of getting in better shape. The stress of situationsÂ like riding a vintage(i.e. crappy) bicycle down the road with one pedal at 4AM because a bike shop employee didnâ€™t tell me that I needed a special wrench toÂ properly install pedals has sent me running in place like a gerbil at the local gym. (I asked by the way.) At the gym I see all the normal people in society. I canâ€™t imagine what people do for a living anymore. I am aware of people walking around in suits making decisions, but I canâ€™t really pinpoint what they do. I still think a person who can fix a turntable is a fucking marvel.

Naturally I figure normal people have more interesting things going on than I do. Spending time in a gym has cured me of that. Iâ€™m aware now of the phenomenon that men in locker rooms walk around naked andÂ look at themselves in the mirror. I know that when you are on a gym situation, you are gonna see a butt every once in a while. Still, there is something to be said for wrapping your genitals as quickly as possible. Thatâ€™s why we do it everywhere else. Simply put, I donâ€™t think testicles are acceptable unless chemotherapy or war crimes are involved.

There lies my problem. Warbled music and an unstable bike at home, or a nice new stationary bike with multiple unnecessary testicle sightings.